BE ON YOUR TOES!

By Michael L. Alumbaugh © 2023 

“Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.” ~ 1 Peter 5:8

I’m always amazed at just how easily we are taken in by the tempter’s snares. We see the content offered and think “Hey, that won’t hurt anyone.” or “Wow! People will think I’m ______!” or “No one will ever know if I do it just this once.” etc. But as the old adage goes, “Give him an inch, he’ll take a mile!”

We walk through life as if yielding to temptations “just this once” is “No big deal!” But it is a big deal. Those yieldings add up fast! In fact, they’ve become so much a part of us that we don’t even notice them anymore.

They’ve become “blind spots.” We don’t even see them. They’ve made us numb. That twinge of guilt no longer affects us. We’ve become deaf. We no longer hear the Holy Spirit’s still small voice yelling “RUN!” attempting to redirect us. All these have weakened us to the point that our resistance to the next snare is almost non-existent. We just keep getting pulled a little bit deeper into the mire.

Admittedly, we’re so accustomed to our sinful ways and practices that we begin justifying them instead of killing them as commanded in Col 3:5-8. We make excuses like “Oh, that’s just my personality type.” or “I came from a broken home.” or “That’s the way I’ve always been.” or “Lots of people do that.” or “Hey, God forgives, right?!“

Dr. Howard Hendricks once said, “Dusty Bibles lead to dirty lives.” The Bible is God’s instrument to direct us away from sin and into fellowship with Him. Yet our old nature remains resistant to daily Bible reading, meditation, introspection, and application. The outcome: we’re blind, numb, and deaf to our sin.

 I remember hearing a story from Dr. Hendricks about his lack of observation. It resonated with me as to how I was dealing with my blind spots. He and his wife were traveling through their hometown of Dallas. Passing by a very familiar sight, he said, “. . . sweetheart, did they just add that to the top of that building?” His wife “roared!” and replied, “We’ve been driving by that for 20 years and that’s been here!” Did he see? Yes. But he hadn’t observed.

Are you on guard? How many ploys of Satan have you fallen for lately? Have you become blind, deaf and numb? Do you now justify your failures and make excuses? Those are the very things that weaken your walk with Christ and your effectiveness in reflecting Him before others. Remember, the devil a created being. He’s not omnipresent or all knowing. He learns from us! He’s just waiting for his next opportunity to pounce!

So, surrender those compromises to the Lord. Confess and repent of them. Get back into the Word. Hear it, read it, study it, memorize it, and meditate on it. Then, as it says in Matthew 26:41, “Watch and pray, that you enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak!” In your daily walk “Be on your toes!” God has promised to never leave or forsake us. We should do the same with Him.

     Dig a Little Deeper: Jer 17:9-10; 1 Cor 10:11-13; 2 Cor 2:11, 4:4; James 4:7; Ps 119:11